2016 is a year of unusual themes. It’s moody and evasive. Flighty, with a stubborn streak. 2016 harbors hesitations and reversals, that dishearten and provoke. There are broad strokes of luck as well as tiny tributaries of intrigue that fraction off into a series of unknown waterways. Are you going in the right directions? Earnest hard work is favored, but no real guarantee of success. In 2016, even more than is usual, we don’t know which dreams will come true. Your path is circuitous. The way is long.

SATURN SQUARES NEPTUNE until NOVEMBER 2016

Can you have a solid foundation when the real, (Saturn), fights with the imaginary, (Neptune)?
The abstract, the imaginary is real too… isn’t it?
Isn’t imagination real?

Do we, or do we not, use it to discover?

Which lines of thinking open up to beautifully rich avenues, when are you daydreaming?
Are you wasting time, for what will never be, and never was either?
Is some kind of value is found there, but to what end, and at what cost?
and yet…

Right off at the end of 2015, the beginning of 2016, our gentlemanly heroes are dying. It’s goodbye to these Capricorn musicians, figures that share the quality of being impossible to co-opt, even as they participate in the most worldly concerns, hard working musicians who manage to blend aspiration with inspiration, never losing sight of the bottom line. Alan Toussaint, David Bowie, even Lemmy. These three lived their lives as an art, making the world turn for them, on their terms, succeeding by virtue of dedication, ambition, curiosity and style.

The paradox was, they sold themselves, (image), while never selling themselves, (integrity), eternal, incorruptible. This is what we want, and must cultivate for 2016.

Remain curious! Innovate! Turn life into art, on your own terms, while keeping your head. Perhaps in death they highlight an example of how to live now, when we need them, perhaps they have lent their assistance to the collective, in a more pervasive less tangible form. Could it be that the deaths of these particular heroes make us aware, as our Pisces/Virgo Eclipses are likely to, that what we have lost is the key to our wholeness, to find the magic embedded within our practicality. A symbiosis. Only what I have lost is what I possess forever.

Mutable Signs take precedence this year. Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces. We are distractible, irrational, flexible, uncertain, changeable, and top notch short term problem solvers.

Mars, Jupiter, and naturally Mercury go retrograde.
Simultaneously, we know that we can’t wait now, can’t just sit this one out.

Are we supposed to let it happen?or fight against it?
Who has the strength?
Altruistic or ideological factors can motivate us.
Even self-preservation can be overridden by the wish to do good or dissolve.

Don’t forget you have to eat, or the Taurus/Scorpio Venus/Mars emphasis in 2016 will be forced to remind you! But what is life without art, without the art of life itself?

Moving ahead under adverse conditions, that’s part of it.

With the exception of a short kickoff in Aquarius,
all the Mercury retrogrades this year are Earth.

Our retrogrades ask us to rethink the practical,
It’s Jupiter in Virgo and Mercury in Capricorn telling us that our practicalities will be reworked and re-imagined.
Money money money. & Control.
It’s a security thing, and there is none.

Mars arrives back in Scorpio May 28th and stays through August 4th.
He moves as far back as 23 degrees by June 18th.
He’ll sit there until June 29th.
Then in it’s direct motion.
We are back to Sagittarius Mars on August 3rd and he finally departs for the home of his exaltation, Capricorn on September 28th.The question is posed in regard to your actions as Mars stations on April 17 in Sagittarius, an answer takes shape near June 29th at 23 Scorpio.

The strength to accomplish comes from within or because of entanglements,
Look to the houses of your chart, to see where the action is.

Neither placement is a weak Mars, on the contrary,
in Scorpio, Mars is in his rulership.

Howev, both have a potential weak spot, Sag. Mars does things on the fly.
Scorpio’s machinations may collapse on them.

There will be a Mercury retro in Taurus while Mars is retro in Sagittarius,
because 2016 is cute like that. Mercury turns back at 23 Taurus, sort of as a warm up for Mars who will later turn direct at 23 Scorpio.
Mercury is retrograde on the 29th of April, and direct on May 22nd at 14 degrees.

It’s all about the Taurus/Scorpio axis
A Mars/Mercury, and in a sense, Venus/Mars puzzle at 23 degrees
that plays out over half a year. ~to have and to hold.~

Ultimately a solution arrives, based again on value and persistence.
What to do with your inheritance, such as it is…
The uses of ruthlessness or entanglement.
The value of power.

You are going to have to think and then think again. What will you exchange in order to get your physical needs met?

What else with Mars?

A Mars Saturn Conjunction. August 23. Hold it right there! Neptune Squares the conjunction.
In a sense, could be the delirious culmination of an year long project, or the tip of a series of culminations.

This year works in waves, one leading to the next, as this moment segues into August 25, and September 1st, which I’ll talk about later on.

Mars conjuncts Pluto October 18/19th, that sticks around to be activated/act on the Crab Moon the 21st of October.

~JUPITER MOVES TO LIBRA SEPTEMBER 10~

Libra’s and Libra rising, your luck starts here! Suddenly, we can negotiate! Partnership is back! Jupiter is so much more powerful in Libra, than he was in Virgo, and in it he begins to act in accordance and resonate with the rest of the sky.

Group projects, artistic opportunities, here Jupiter can support Saturn in Sagittarius and inflate Uranus in Aries. Connections will be made, visions brought to life. Extra boost for Cardinal & Air. Libra Sun and rising September 2016 begins a personal new year!

ECLIPSES

As ever with Eclipses, there will be a something of a vortex of loss that suctions us into the future. Experiencing Eclipses is the closest that most of us will get to space travel.~warp speed~ And always a sensation of contact, so you know what you are missing and then a tearing away, to drop you off on a alien planet, where life begins to take form in a unexpected direction.

Our Eclipse this year are on the Pisces/Virgo Axis more than they are not.

Our first is March 8th at 18.52 degrees Pisces.
Sun conjunct Moon conjunct Chiron and in Pisces.
That’s a New Moon!
What happens? Do we win by losing?Something is bittersweet.

Next, the Full Moon Eclipse is sort of a throw back, one last Libra/Aries Eclipse on the 23 of March with the Sun and Mercury at 2 and 3 degrees, to be sure we know how to play fair and who is calling the shots.

For the second set, in August, we have an Aquarius/Leo Full Moon Eclipse on the 18th, at 25.52 degrees,
Again Mars/Saturn in Sagittarius square Netune.
Dogmatic/Religious/Ideology hits a blockade and your belief may be tarnished here.
Dissipation, Refusal. Dramatics are not favored there.
Few choices. Accept. Let go.

*Then for the 1st of September a New Moon Virgo Eclipse.
The Sun and Moon at 9 Virgo, Mercury, the North Node, and Jupiter in ALL Virgo.
The theme: For goodness sake, pay attention and try to help!

Jupiter in Virgo does seem to go out with a bang this year, handing out prizes that may have been withheld until the last moment. To get yours, be specific, be humble, serve others, and do what you say you will do.

Venus is at home in Libra, Mars and Saturn between 10 and 14 Sag. Neptune at 10 Pisces, the outlet of course is Gemini. Mutable signs and placements, mark your calendar!

Last of the year, a Pisces Lunar Eclipse on September 16th,

A Full Moon, with the Moon conjunct Chiron, The emphasis here is on release.
You can’t stop anyone from doing anything. A little self-acceptance will go a long way.
Sagittarius Mars trines Uranus and squares the Sun. The archer shoots, something said or revealed may come back to haunt as a retro Mercury trines Pluto.

MUTABLE CROSSES

Another theme this year is the Mutable Cross, rapid, uncertain, perhaps even inconclusive changes. Key word to cope: Flexibility.

The New Moon on June 4th gives us a decent looking Mutable Cross,
and August 25th gives us a dramatic one!

For the week of June 4th, busy, busy, busy!

For August 25th,
Saturn conjuncts Mars at 10 Sagittarius,
Sun/Venus/Mercury/Jupiter and the north node all in Virgo,
Neptune at 10 Pisces,Chiron in opposition to the Virgo pile up at 23 degrees
the Moon sliding below in Gemini, to activate the entire sky at noon.
Uranus is inconjunct the Virgo , and Pluto sends a trine.

There is a sense of finality on that one. Rewards and punishment before moving on to
the New Moon Solar Eclipse in Virgo/Pisces on the 1st of September.* (See above)

All Mutable energetics ask us to change to suit the unforeseeable and the unexpected.
Keep your head, make it up as you go along, but practically, or what you imagine is practically, until you know better.

~What will it take to make your dreams real?~

THIS YEAR’S FIREWORKS IN JULY

A massively huge fate-y New Moon in Crab on July 4th. Rich with past connections, threads from other lives, AND, absolute new opportunities. There is some luck here, a definite yes, as doors open, and quite a bit of pressure that goes along with it. Mars and Neptune to trine in Scorpio and Pisces, Jupiter in Virgo sextiles, Pluto opposes, Mercury, and Venus, surround the Sun and Moon.

It will be another month, before it’s perfectly clear and Saturn gives you permission to fly, but the set up is plain. The start of something big, especially for Water and Earth,
and likely, though not painless or simple, good news.

this July, the Crab Sun, Mercury, and Venus give Pluto and Uranus something to play with, which in turn activates all Aries, Libra, and Capricorn. The upside, is yes you can make Changes, as needed. ALSO, many will be made for you.

By July, Uranus is as far as 24 degrees, newly touching those as yet unaffected.
He is less an earthquake now, (Uranus’ contact with Pluto is waning),
and more of an electric current. Surprise! Wide awake.
As ever tho, an X-RAY!
A flash of light, taking darkness away for a brave reveal.
Shocking.

By Mid September, Mars comes along to help Uranus change your life.
The trine between Sagittarius Mars and Uranus in Aries, if a brief but active window from the 15 of September to the 20th. Fight for your beliefs and win?

After that Mars goes Cardinal.

As with any Cardinal sign, Key word, BEGIN.
Mars in Capricorn has strategic plans.
Back in BIZ, and fully functional.
October sees Mars Pluto trine the North Node.~show us your power move!~

BEST OF ALL IN 2016, SATURN TRINES URANUS = LASTING CHANGES

Innovation. Invention. Discovery.
A series of game changing revelatory technologies, ideas and constructs will arrive now.
These will be the result of active stimulating exchange, unusual public discourse and flashes of personal genius.

When does it happen? Early on in 2016 February through March, Saturn trines Uranus as a preview,It’s beautiful.Then as Saturn has a retrograde, the two don’t sync up again until the end of November.

BUT,
From November Saturn and Uranus work arm in arm,
continuing because of a second Saturn retrograde, well into 2017.

THIS is good Mojo.
If you want to change your life. You will have the strength to innovate. No Joke!.

As we arrive in December, the sky is nearly all Fire and Air and Earth.
The bulk of the action in male signs.
Jupiter opposes Uranus, FREE FREE FREE, both of them squaring Pluto in Cap.
Will the old guard be taken down?

Sure, but it doesn’t look that brutal.

Opportunities to expand, to go beyond, hinge on a restructuring, of business, of the old world. It seems possible that there will be many such openings, with the North Node in Virgo, we know which ones are right. Choose altruism, choose craftsmanship, be discerning. It’s not about the flashy glamour job, it’s the unsung hero.

In December, Uranus trines Saturn,
as Jupiter in Libra sextiles Saturn and opposes Uranus in Aries.

Saturn in Sagittarius becomes a moderator.
Jupiter in Libra shares a beautiful sextile, and mutual reception with Saturn in Sagittarius,
as Saturn is exalted in Libra, and Jupiter is at home in Sagittarius.

December 2016 is when we begin to more fully cash in on the potential of Saturn in Sag.
You can establish lasting benefits. The two edges of our ordinary life, contraction and expansion, work closely with each other, and to our benefit.

We certainly come out of 2016 stronger than we go in to it.
By the end of it, it’s not about ~how do you feel?~ it’s about what you are doing!
Which is what so many of us long for, a certain emotional/philosophical clarity and a worthy goal.

Isn’t it odd that we can’t fast forward to that moment.
We do actually have to earn it. To fight apathy, to feel our way in the dark, to course correct with a faulty compass and a prayer.

Our guides for 2016 suggest that ethics matter, that the humility is key, and that healthy is as healthy does, without our dreams we are sunk, and we must learn to embed them in the ordinary flow of our existence.

For the bulk of this year, no easy answers, mostly because outcomes ARE actually uncertain.
The best results will come from ~consistency,~ or what will have to double as, the ability to rally, to reinvent, to regroup, to restart, to reinvest in our lives and the lives of those we care for over and over.

Love YOU!!!!

XoX

p.s.

Nothing will bring him back, but look, there is David Bowie in the stars!HERE and HERE

I am printing this post out and placing it where I can reference it every single day in 2016….like a worksheet. As a Libra, I don’t have to say it has been a really rough 6 years. Every line I read gave me hope and the ability to go forward, unafraid. Fear has been my constant companion. When Mars stations at 8 Sag on March 3, it sits right on my natal 1st house Venus and when it ends it’s retrograde at 23 Scorpio, that is my AC. I’m ready for some answers. The Virgo stellium from 8/25 – 9/10 is 10th house Virgo and I am hoping for a good resolution work- wise. On 9/10, Jupiter enters my sun sign and my husbands’ rising sign. It hasn’t been great for me, partnership wise for the before mentioned 6 years, but since we are both Air signs (Libra and Gemini) maybe the tide will turn. I’m planning, revising and educating myself (Saturn just crossed my AC) so that I will be prepared for whatever comes this fall.

That’s wonderful, glad it will be of some use! 🙂 I do think Jupiter in Virgo will hand out some presents there at the end. With that pile up it really seems likely. I will say he has been rather close fisted, thus far, even taking into account his position in his ‘Fall’. Jupiter in Libra should be a real relief for you. OPPORTUNITIES!! Thank goodness. xoxo